Prepare for China's green legislation

Just when you thought it was safe to call your products RoHS-compliant, a similar-sounding environmental mandate is looming in China that could trip up those who don't stop to consider the differences in the two laws.

Modeled after the European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive, which took effect in July, China's pending Management Measures on the Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products--commonly called China RoHS--calls out the same six hazardous substances, and limits their use to the same maximum-concentration values (MCVs). And, like the EU's RoHS, many crucial elements of the Chinese law remain unclear, just months before it is scheduled to take effect.

That's where the similarities end, said Bijan Dastmalchi, a principal at Symphony Consulting Inc., a supply chain consultancy in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Recently, the first in a series of RoHS-compliance Web seminars hosted by Symphony highlighted where the far-reaching environmental directives diverge, and what companies need to do now to meet the requirements of China RoHS by the March 1 deadline.

"Your obligations for March 1, 2007, are going to be quite different than they were for July 1, 2006, for the EU," Dastmalchi said.

Unlike the European law, China's version carries requirements for marking and certification of electronic information products. Select products will be required to be certified as within the MCV limits by one of 18 authorized testing labs. The precise compliance date has not been set but will fall between September 2007 and March 2008. The specific products that must meet the criteria also remain a mystery, which is making some people nervous, according to Dastmalchi.

However, it's the marking requirement--the aspect associated with the March 1 deadline--where many companies will stumble, he said. That's because they lack either the right information from their supply chains to properly mark and declare their products or the right technology infrastructure to track the necessary data.

Data management
Compliance risk is directly related to the ability to manage product data, noted Richard Vermeij, director of market development at Arena Solutions Inc. (Foster City, Calif.), one of the seminar's sponsors.

"Under the self-declaration principle [of EU RoHS], the burden is on us to ensure that our documentation is complete and accurate," Vermeij said. "Under China RoHS, for the same bill of materials, we now need to track the compliance status of each part, what marking is required, and whether or not the restricted substances are present over the MCVs."

Spreadsheets and file servers weren't designed to handle this volume and complexity of information, he said.

It's worth noting that a product need not be redesigned immediately simply because it does not meet the MCV limits of China RoHS. Phase one of the law requires only that the product be declared noncompliant and appropriately marked.

To manage that process, Symphony suggests OEMs adopt a due-diligence strategy for understanding the chemical content of their products that includes a plan for data management, product testing, supplier audits and certificates of compliance. Because when the compulsory certification phase rolls around, you can be sure the Chinese government will do some due diligence of its own.

An unofficial translation of China RoHS can be found at www.aeanet.org/governmentaffairs/gabl_ChinaRoHS_FINAL_ March2006.asp.

For more information about Symphony Consulting's RoHS seminars, visit www.symphony consult.com/workshops.

--Crista Souza

Original text is here